El Niño is reshaping maritime trade as climate volatility affects shipping routes, port operations, commodity production and the cost of transporting goods. Forecasts of El Niño conditions during the second half of 2026 have renewed concerns about disruption across maritime supply chains already facing geopolitical and economic uncertainty. The Panama Canal illustrates the potential consequences. […]
Asian port congestion caused a sharp deterioration in global container shipping schedule reliability in July 2026, with congestion across the region’s largest ports disrupting vessel arrivals and increasing delays. Global schedule reliability fell to 56.4% in July, down 6.1 percentage points from June. According to Sea-Intelligence, this was the steepest month-on-month decline recorded since January […]
Carrier profitability improved sharply in the second quarter of 2026 as higher freight rates and changing trade exposure lifted operating margins, according to Alphaliner. The average operating margin for the leading container carriers rose to 11.2% in the second quarter of 2026, as route disruption, port congestion, and continued strong demand pushed freight rates sharply […]
Global bunker prices eased slightly in August, although the market remained volatile due to Middle East geopolitical developments, crude oil movements and tight availability across key bunker hubs. By the end of the month, the MABUX 380 HSFO Index had declined by USD 10.50, moving from USD 631.11/MT at the end of July to USD […]
Container shipping recovery gained momentum in the second quarter of 2026, with major carriers reporting stronger revenues, operating profits and transported volumes compared with the same period last year. According to the latest Sea-Intelligence Sunday Spotlight commentary, reporting container shipping lines generated combined revenue of USD 43.4 billion in 2026-Q2, representing a 15.9% year-on-year increase. […]
Global port rankings saw major changes in the first half of the year as geopolitical disruption reshaped container flows, according to Alphaliner. A review of the top-30 ports at the half-year mark shows the widespread impact of geopolitical trends on the global container market, as carriers adjusted their networks in reaction to the Middle East […]
Vessel delays are continuing to remove a significant amount of effective container shipping capacity from the global market, with Sea-Intelligence estimating that around 1.7 million TEU is currently being absorbed by ongoing delays. In its latest Sunday Spotlight analysis, Sea-Intelligence notes that global container vessel schedule reliability remains broadly stable at around 60–65%. This remains […]
The North Europe trade is seeing major differences in potential port call sizes as carriers concentrate capacity across fewer discharge ports, according to Alphaliner. Congestion is and will remain a growing problem for the liner sector. Climate change resulting in extreme weather with typhoons, heavy rainfall, but also periods of excessive drought, is increasingly playing […]
U.S. container imports increased in July, with volumes remaining well above pre-pandemic levels despite continuing tariff uncertainty and disruption across major shipping routes. U.S. containerized imports reached 2.51 million TEUs in July 2026, up 4.5% from June but 4.3% below the unusually strong level recorded a year earlier. For the first seven months of the […]